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Sam Smith, Lana Del Rey score top album debuts

STRONG DEBUT: British singer Sam Smith, whose soulful vocals have catapulted him into the U.S. mainstream with ballads such as "Stay With Me," came in at No. 2 this week with "In the Lonely Hour" selling 166,000 copies. Photo: Associated Press

By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop singer Lana Del Rey scored her first No. 1 album on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, while British newcomer Sam Smith landed at No. 2 with his debut record.

Del Rey’s “Ultraviolence,” her second full-length studio album which includes the single “West Coast,” sold 182,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. Her previous album, 2012’s “Born To Die,” sold 76,000 copies in its first week and peaked at No. 2 on the album chart.

“Ultraviolence” also garnered 7 million streams in the U.S. on music streaming platform Spotify, the highest number of first-week streams this year.

British singer Sam Smith, whose soulful vocals have catapulted him into the U.S. mainstream with ballads such as “Stay With Me,” came in at No. 2 this week with “In the Lonely Hour” selling 166,000 copies.

Other new debuts in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart this week include rockers Linkin Park at No. 3 with “The Hunting Party” and country singer Willie Nelson at No. 5 with “Band of Brothers.”

Pop singer and “American Idol” judge Jennifer Lopez’s latest album “A.K.A.” entered the chart at No. 8 with sales of 33,000 copies, which Billboard said was her lowest debut yet, despite a high-profile appearance singing this year’s theme song at the opening ceremony for the World Cup soccer tournament in Brazil.

Electronic music DJ Deadmau5 came in at No. 9 with his latest record, “While (1<2).” For the week ending June 22, overall album sales totaled 4.55 million, down 17 percent from the comparable week in 2013, Billboard said. (Editing by Patricia Reaney and Jonathan Oatis)